“No, no. Not there. I want it on my lips.”
I gave him a flat look in order to cover up my flaming cheeks. “Goodnight, Adrian.”
He chuckled before pulling me into the crook of his neck. “’Night, Shortcake.”
***
“How are we even best friends?!” Amy cried in disbelief, her voice loud over the phone, “I can’t believe you still haven’t slept with him!”
“Amy, shut up! ‘She’ and I are sometimes in the same room and I can’t talk about that around ‘her.’” I tried to cover up subtly, briefly glancing over to Adrian to see if he heard Amy’s loud voice from his desk.
Amy laughed before responding. “All the more reason to jump him while you can, Em! Honestly Hun, you’re growing old, and sometimes, the muscles in between your legs need to-”
“THANK YOU FOR YOUR CALL, I WILL SPEAK WITH YOU LATER. GOOD BYE!” I ended the call abruptly while blushing deeply from her words. My eyes widened as I looked at the phone in horror before I looked up to meet Adrian’s amused gaze.
“Are you okay there, Shortcake?” he asked with a smile, obviously enjoying my flushed state.
“Yep, yep. I’m good. Just… you know… business-ing it out and all…” I let out a nervous laugh before growing redder at the realisation of how stupid my words sounded.
Adrian chuckled and got out of his seat, making his way towards my desk. “What did she say? Clearly, it involved me, because you’re refusing to make eye contact with me right now.”
“You? Why would we talk about you? Amy was just telling me about her encounter with an ex-boyfr-”
“No, she wasn’t. You tried to cover up the fact that she was talking about me by saying ‘she’ instead of ‘he’ and looked at me once you finished the sentence and thought I wasn’t looking. I was.” He smirked before lifting me out of my seat and pressing me into his torso.
“I- What? N- No I wasn’t.” I stuttered as I felt my blush increase in colour.
“You’re a really bad liar, Shortcake.” He smirked down at me, and I watched as his eyes briefly flickered to my lips.
I didn’t respond as my own eyes moved down to his lips unconsciously, and I licked my own lips which were suddenly feeling dry.
Adrian let out a throaty growl before I felt his arm push close the space in between us even more than before as he looked down at my lips again.
A knock sounded at the door, breaking the haze Adrian and I were in, and I pushed him away gently, blushing again.
Adrian took a step back and cleared his throat before speaking up. “Come in,” he called out in a raspy voice. My eyes widened in shock when I looked down to his crotch area and found a bulge sticking out of his navy coloured pants.
I rushed and stood in front of him to cover the obvious body part that was sticking out just as Suzie entered the office. My hand accidentally brushed against his area and Adrian let out another groan, making my eyes widen even further.
“I’m not going to be able to do this much longer, Shortcake,” Adrian murmured into my ear before directing his attention back to Suzie. “What is it?”
“Good morning, Mr. Kingston, Emily.” She nodded and smiled in our direction and I smiled and waved in response. Adrian ignored her greeting completely. “Your father suggested that we host a charity gala dinner in order to raise money for our cancer foundation this Saturday. I have already begun the preparations and just need your approval…” She trailed off as she looked at Adrian, then myself, then back at Adrian again. “I’m so sorry if I’ve interrupted anything…”
“No, no!” I reassured her quickly, scrambling for a lie. “You haven’t interrupted anything, Suzie! Adrian and I were just discussing the final marketing plan developed for the hotels in the Australian region.”
Adrian cleared his throat. “Just place the papers on the table in front of you and I will send them back to your office later. Emily, you’re going to be my +1 for the Gala. Mrs. Brown, please make sure everybody knows that, and seat her in between Allen and myself. Is there anything else?”
Suzie looked back and forth between Adrian and me again with uncertainty on her features before clearing her throat. “Did you want the dinner to be themed in any way?”
“No. Just make sure everyone is dressed to a high standard. If that is all, you can leave now.”
“Adrian!” I exclaimed, turning around to him with a frown. “Stop being so rude,” I mumbled, looking up at him with a stern look. He ignored my glare completely, and focused his gaze on my lips again, making me blush.
“Okay, thank you sir,” Suzie called out softly, before we heard the door shut once again.
My blush deepened as I looked away from his intense gaze. “Why am I your +1 this time? Do I even have a choice in the matter?” I asked in an attempt to change the tension in the air.
“No, and because I want you to be,” Adrian snapped. “Anyway, you can’t complain. I’m putting Allen next to you. Having said that, I don’t want anything unnecessary happening between you two.”
I rolled my eyes at his sudden mood swing. “Okay Mr. Bi-Polar.”
“I mean it. And get your weird friend to pick out your dress this time. Rita will do your hair again and I don’t want you wearing a lot of makeup. You already attract too much attention as it is.”
“Yes, Boss,” I said sarcastically, mock-saluting him. “Is there anything else, Boss?”
“Don’t call me boss, Shortcake,” Adrian warned in a low voice, even as a mischievous light glinted in his eye, “or I will not hesitate to kiss you this time.”
I looked up at him with wide eyes and my cheeks began to flame up again at his comment. I cleared my throat to compose myself. “S-Sorry,” I stuttered.
Another event. I did not have a good feeling about this one.
Chapter Nineteen
Dress shopping was probably the worst thing that was ever assigned to the job description of being a girl. Especially when it’s with your psychotic best friend who refuses to let you see the dress that you’re going to be wearing.
“Ames, I didn’t come all the way down here just to watch you glare at your laptop,” I said, growing more and more nervous by the second. “Let me see!”
“I’ve already bought it so it can come on time, so you can’t say anything! I actually love it, wow!” Amy grinned to herself, making me laugh.